Pulis first took the Potters job in 2002 and returned in 2006 after a stint at Plymouth Argyle, overseeing promotion to the top flight two years later.

Behind Arsene Wenger, he was the second-longest serving manager in the country following Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement and David Moyes's subsequent move to Old Trafford from Everton.

Solid

Within two years of taking over for his second spell in charge he won promotion to the Premier League, where they have never finished below 14th.

He also led them to their first FA Cup final against Manchester City in 2011, which they lost 1-0, and consequently into the Europa League.

However, a poor run in the second half of this season - during which the Potters won just three of their last 19 league matches and briefly raised relegation fears - saw them finish with their lowest Premier League points tally.

Also Pulis' style of football has often been criticised for being over-physical and relying too heavily on the 'long ball'.

But Etherington said there was reason to his methods and that the manager had tried to change his style as best he could.

"We have definitely got better players at the club than we had when I joined in the first season in the Premier League," he added.

"The manager has a way he wants to play. First and foremost he wants us to be defensively very sound.

"You have to be solid or there is a big chance you will get relegated. That was his main priority, which was fair enough.

"There were times when we weren't pretty to watch but he had us well-drilled and that shouldn't be taken away from the job the manager has done.

"The gaffer said in pre-season he wanted the way we played to evolve and we started off relatively well.

"When it went bad and we weren't picking up results we maybe went back to the old ways.

"You can say it worked because it kept us up but we went back to basics to grind out results.

"The way we finished this season was poor, we all know that and the fans weren't happy and rightly so.

"We had the quality in the squad to finish higher this year. The players need to look at ourselves because we didn't perform.

"It was a bad season this year in terms of where we finished and where we should have finished.

"But if you look at where we finished in the last few seasons you can't really argue."